SF Giants and a wannabe Rodeo Clown ~ Going to the Ship!

The “Ship” is short for Championship as Sergio Romo explained to us diehard fans after last night’s game. I stayed up for hours watching the late night commentaries on all the sports channels. Just couldn’t get enough! Duane Kuiper, our local television and radio commentator of team Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, coined the phrase mid-season “Giants Games ~ Torture!” and boy did it stick! Whew! The statistics for their one run games pretty much explains it all. I seriously considered not watching the bottom of the 9th last night! Instead I chose to leave the room with my radio and headphones and sit in a corner overcome by a huge anxiety attack! This was fun! Fun, like getting your finger stuck in a light socket, or pulling your toenails out one at a time. Nothing comes easy for Giants fans. Is that why we love these guys so much? Endurance?

All I can say is I’ve been a Giants fan for many, many years and I can never remember a team of players quite like this group. Misfits? Probably. Oddballs? Oh sure. Endearing? Absolutely! They have so many tags this year, it’s hard to know where to start. Black beards in the bullpen, Aubrey Huff’s red thong for good luck, Cody Ross, the wannabe Rodeo Clown, Timmy Lincecum’s long black hair flowing out from his cap, and his minor infraction this summer with the law, Barry Zito, most expensive paid cheerleader in history, sitting on the bench through the entire playoffs with his $18,000,000 Annual Salary, supporting his teammates.

But along with the idiosyncracies the Giants organization weaned a couple of rookies off their farm program this year and what a couple of rookies they turned out to be. I don’t know what they’re feeding and teaching the kids down in the Fresno area, but boy does it work! Rookies Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner both played key roles throughout the season after being called up this Spring, but also contributed immensely in the postseason . It gave me a huge thrill to watch the two of them, Bumgarner the Pitcher and Posey the Catcher,a couple of kids performing in postseason in the 6th Game of the NLCS against the current champion Philadelphia Phillies, doing their job like the young pro’s they are. My guess is they’ll be around for many years and, Lord willing, in San Francisco. Well for whatever reason, the chemistry works for both the players and the fans, and the fans aren’t going away anytime soon!

I’ve tried not to dwell on the incredible odds the Giants were up against with the Phillies who were the hands down favorites in every aspect. But I’d like to mention

Madison Bumgarner, Postseason Play

something here that’s been bugging me for years. The very worst of the worst of sports announcers has to be without a doubt Fox Sports “Buck & McCarver”. At one point in Game 1, the Fox commentators made a comment about how “bored Halladay must be, throwing strikes and retiring players. He probably thought he was back in the minors and what a piece of cake” or some such trivia as this, at which point Cody Ross blasted a home run out of the park and silenced the dribble at least momentarily. In the next game, the same illustrious announcers announced that some had referred to this year’s Giants team as a bunch of “idiots”. Then went on to explain it was the same term used for the Boston Red Sox the year they won the World Series, as though that somehow justified the comment. Another time they were busy showing pictures and

Fox Sports' Buck & McCarver

about Alcatraz while missing pitches and activity at the bases. But you know what really bugged me? In Game 6 the Buck & McCarver had a mindless conversation about how Buster Posey would never make it as a catcher, and probably would be more suited to “leftfield”. (Note: See Johnny Bench’s comments regarding Buster Posey as a catcher http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_16344094?nclick_check=1 ). Probably the hardest part to sit through with these guys was that final out. Whew, might as well have been teatime ~ thank God for my Walkman! 1These guys musta had a lot of money bet on the Phillies. How else can you explain the complete ambivalence towards the Giants? And, good grief, we get to listen to them for the World Series? (Gotta remember to get batteries for the Walkman.) Where do they get these guys? Wherever it is, I wish they’d send them back! We want our own announcers in the broadcast booth, doing what they do best. Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, true professionals, and I truly missed them during the entire playoff season! For what it’s worth!

Cody Ross, NLCS MVP

And so, in spite of the odds, the San Francisco Giants, with beards, thongs and a wannabe Rodeo Clown are going to the World Series to meet their worthy opponents, the formidable Texas Rangers, under the ownership of one of baseball’s greatest, Nolan Ryan. Best of luck to both teams! This is gonna be fun! See y’all on Wednesday!

2 responses to “SF Giants and a wannabe Rodeo Clown ~ Going to the Ship!”

When the Fox Sports announcers spoke of Buster Posey playing left field, they were actually complimenting him. They said he was such a great athlete that he shouldn’t be catching, but rather be playing another position in order to not get hurt or wear out his knees. I’m not sure where you got anything out of this comment but respect for Posey and his game.

Sorry this took so long – been a busy month! My response to their comment had to do with the value of Posey as a catcher. According to the starting pitchers, Posey, unlike a lot of catchers, actually called the pitches in the majority of the games, and he called the right pitches. Cain particularly says he rarely disagreed with a called pitch by Posey. By wanting to relegate Posey to the outfield, Buck & McCarver didn’t get it. With any research at all, they would have known how valuable Posey is at that catching position. Outfield would be a huge waste of talent for Posey. I understand he can also pitch, but we won’t even go there! Thanks for your comment – sorry I took so long to respond.

"The best possible thing in baseball is winning the World Series. The second best thing is losing the World Series." - Tommy Lasorda

"You teach me baseball and I’ll teach you relativity.... You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball." - Albert Einstein

"Baseball is a game of race, creed, and color. The race is to first base. The creed is the rules of the game. The color? Well, the home team wears white uniforms, and the visiting team wears gray."
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GARLICFRIESANDBASEBALL is written by a long-time fan who simply loves the game. I write my own articles (hence the grammar and occasional misspellings). If I include an article from another source, credit is given to that source and will include links when appropriate. The opinions are my own.